Summary The page has been inaccessible to users from inside Pakistan since Wednesday.
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Facebook has blocked the page of a liberal Pakistani rock band and others that criticise the Taliban at the request of the government, angering activists campaigning against censorship in the Islamic country.
Rock band "Laal" (Red) formed in 2007 and are known for their progressive politics.
Their Facebook page has more than 400,000 likes, with users frequently joining debates on issues ranging from feminism to the role of the country's army in politics.
But it has been inaccessible to users from inside Pakistan since Wednesday.
"Facebook didn't even inform us, I realised when I noticed no activity on our page," Taimur Rahman, Laal's lead guitarist, told AFP.
Facebook confirmed the move to AFP Friday saying Laal's page had been blocked inside Pakistan at Islamabad's request, under an agreement to limit access to material that violates local laws.
A Facebook spokeswoman said: "While we never remove this type of content from the site entirely, like most Internet services, we may restrict people from accessing it in the countries where it is determined to be illegal.
"Before we restrict the content, we take significant steps to investigate each unique claim, consult with local counsel and other experts in the country, and will only remove content in the most limited way possible," she added.
According to a page on Facebook that deals with government requests, 162 pieces of content were restricted for viewership inside Pakistan between July to December 2013.
"We restricted access in Pakistan to a number of pieces of content primarily reported by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the Ministry of Information Technology under local laws prohibiting blasphemy and criticism of the state," the page says.
